Imprint
by Kristin Rey
Summary: The youngest werewolf finds his soul mate in Kim's little sisters best friend. Later chapters sweet, told from the girls point of view. Please read and review! Rated T for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

I stared into the mirror, combing through my wet hair. It was tangled and knotty and that freaky shade that wasn't quite blonde or quite brown, with tints of red and umber. It wasn't straight or curly and wild, so I had to flat iron it every day before school. I kind of hated it.

Part of my relief at moving to Forks from Jacksonville was that humidity tended to make my hair curlier and now it could make it through a day without curling up. The downside was that Jacksonville would bleach my hair to a blonde and I didn't have this freaky color. Whatever.

I smiled a little at going to school because I knew exactly who I would get to see in Science, my first class. He was a cute boy who came to our school, Forks High, and he was amazing to me. My friends teased me constantly about my crush but it didn't really bother me, considering that my best friend Liz was dating a vampire. Skylaar approved of him only because he wasn't a werewolf.

Yeah, we knew about that clandestine world. We all had our reasons: Skylaar's sister Kim was imprinted, Liz was dating a vampire, and I... was just normal. I knew about it because of my sister, Angela. She didn't know about it, but her description of the Cullen's matched up with my description of Marcus. I'm not stupid, I can put two and two together. I knew what they were, even if my sister was totally oblivious. It was so obvious... their grace, beauty, the way the never seemed to eat.

It kind of sucked hanging out with people who were in love.

Angela and Ben, Kim and Jared, Liz and Marcus, Bella and Edward... you get the idea. I just wished that kind of thing would happen to me. I can't explain it, but some movies that truly show love make my heartache in an empty way. Like someone was out there for me, but I wasn't trying hard enough to find them. As a result, I would tend to avoid those movies.

School was perfectly boring. I sat through Science, just staring at Christian, wishing something magical would happen to me and he would fall in love with me. Nothing happened. I spent the rest of the day moping.

Skylaar invited me over to her house again, it was easier to watch Jared and Kim drool all over each other with someone else to help dilute it. It was painful for me to watch, it made the heartache come back all over again, but in a show of true friendship, I said yes.

We lounged around her house for a while, she showed me her current prank project and I couldn't make sense of the crazy boxes or the stuff she had thought to order, and then it got kind of boring. We knew exactly when Kim got home, because she was laughing at something stupid Jared had said, but we didn't expect him to bring all of his friends.

They were so _big._ Names jumped into my head as I watched each of them.

Quil, Jacob, Embry, Paul, Sam, Leah, Seth, Collin, Brady, and a few I couldn't name.

Sam seemed to be the silent leader of most of them, Jacob and Leah seemed to be their own pack. I shrugged it off, staring at one of the boys I couldn't name.

He was beautiful.

He had brown hair that curled gently on his forehead, and the same russet skin that they all shared. His eyes were shocking blue, so different from the chocolate eyes of the Quilletes. I tuned into Sam introducing them:  
"Paul, Sam, Collin, Brady, Leah, and our youngest: Griffin." he said, gesturing toward each of the boys.

Griffin. His name was Griffin. I felt something stirring inside of me, as I watched this boy who had yet to notice me. Sam said he was the youngest, he had to be fourteen, like me. I felt happy, and my feelings for Christian disintegrated.

Kim felt the need to introduce us. "This is my baby sister, Skylaar, and her little friend, Kristin."

When she said my name, his icy eyes locked on mine.


	2. Chapter 2

Something deep inside me melted when his blue eyes connected with my own. His eyes were round with wonder and adoration, but there was nothing that deserved that level of awe. Sam turned to him quickly, the motion taking forever, and put his hand on his chest. Griffin's eyes followed mine as Collin and Brady pushed him from the room. He was vibrating, and I was suddenly terrified. Wolves were unstable, they hurt the ones that they loved, I knew that from Sam and Emily.

But he didn't love me.

Something about me had made him need to leave the room, had caused him to react in a scary way, that made me realize just how dangerous wolves were. Skylaar sensed something was wrong, and she offered to take me home. I let her do it numbly, not realizing it. She misinterpreted.

"Thinking about Christian?" she said, and I could hear her rolling her eyes.

Christian.

Something about that name vaguely rang a bell, but I felt none of the attraction that I used to feel for him anymore. All I could think about was Griffin, the beautiful and terrifying werewolf that made me feel what I saw in Kim's eyes. I didn't know what to do.

I went through the motions of getting ready the next morning, but my heart wasn't really into it. I walked to school with Liz in a daze, barely listening to her prattle on and on about Marcus, not registering that something that I liked to listen to suddenly seemed so insignificant. He was all I could think about now. I walked to science class, not noticing when Christian fell into step beside me. We must have walked like that for a while, when he finally spoke, we were at our seats.

"Um... Kristin?" he said, his eyes gentle. "Liz is throwing a party and... maybe you'd like to go with me?"

I didn't register that. Something was wrong. I should be happy, europhic that my crush had asked me out. But all I could think about was Griffin. Christian looked startled at my response and spoke a little faster.

"She invited Marcus, and a bunch of guys from La Push, and some kids from school..." he trailed off, anticipating my response.

_A bunch of guys from La Push..._

"Okay." I said, and my voice was wrong, too high pitched and fast. "Okay, I'd love to go with you."

"Cool" was all he said, but under his frat boy mask I could see how excited he was about going with me.

School moved too quickly for me, with Liz talking non-stop about her party, and I could see that Skylaar was about as excited about going as I was.

Nobody talked about Griffin.

I was standing in front of my mirror the night of the party, having thrown on some skinny jeans and a nice shirt, trying to figure out how to make my hair presentable. When I heard him knock on the door, I gave up and ran down the stairs.

"Hey," he said, "You look hot."

I blushed under his gaze and halfway pushed him to the house, actually feeling excited for the first time since Griffin - it ached to think his name - had reacted that way. Maybe a party was what I needed to get back into my groove. We got there and Liz greeted us at the door, her arm wrapped around Marcus's waist. Her eyes were bright and in her opinion, this was the hottest party in Forks. I didn't deny it.

The music was infectionous, the food amazing, our every need easy to find in the room. I was dancing with Christian, feeling happy for the first time in a while, when I saw Leah and Jacob.

They were leaning against the wall talking, next to Seth, Paul, and ...

Oh no.

Christian didn't notice my distraction, he was fine just dancing. I would've been fine too, but Griffin was watching me, a trace of pain in his features. I didn't think, didn't feel, my mind went on lock-down and the party swirled around me. Christian noticed for the first time that I obviously wasn't feeling well, I could only imagine how pale my face must have been. He guided me to a wall, concern in his face. I felt Griffin's eyes follow me and when I glanced back, Christians arms around me, the pain was prominent in his face, he was making no effort to hide it. Again, my heart ached.

Christian left me for a moment to get something for me - I didn't hear his voice - when I saw Griffin shaking again, the adoration out of place on his pained face. Sam looked wildly around the room, and when his eyes touched on mind, they narrowed. He pushed Griffin out of the room and approached me, his eyes furious. I slumped to the floor, trying to avoid Sam's angry eyes. I could hear his footsteps approach me and I blacked out on the floor.


	3. Chapter 3

**(Reference to fanfic Heartward Bound by maewie)**

I woke up in a dark place. Something covered my eyes and gagged my mouth. I remember Kim telling Skylaar and me how Jared had rescued her from some jerk. Why does this always happen with wolves?

Something frightened voice inside of me told me that this was bad, very bad, and suddenly I was afraid of what Sam would do to me. I remembered his rage at me - but I had done nothing to make him this angry. I remembered Griffin vibrating and leaving, and then I must have passed out. I heard voices, and my blindfold was ripped off.

I was in Billy Black's house, in La Push. Sam was there, and Paul and Griffin, and everyone but Griffin looked angry. Griffin looked desperate to save something - but what? Paul held Griffin back and he was struggling. I realized that the pain in my stomach were ropes and I felt a sick feeling of dread.

"No," Griffin gasped. "No Sam, not like this, there has to be another way, any other way"

Sam silenced him with a chilling glare. "There is no other way. She has to see the consequences of what she's done to the pack."

I sat there, frightened, afraid of what these two terrifying people could do to me. Sam replaced Paul's hold on Griffin, and Paul ghosted over to me. I felt sick. He leaned down to whisper in my ear.

"Look at what you've done to him, made him half crazy and angry, ripping apart friends..." as he spoke I looked into Griffin's eyes and saw madness, the struggling against Sam's arms. "You're a naughty girl," Paul said, "and naughty girls should be punished." Paul raised his hand back and hit me squarely on the face.

He was strong and it _hurt_. He used all of his strength and I couldn't scream because of the gag, I heard a crack where his hand connected. I looked into Griffin's eyes, wild with pain, and let the tears fall.

Paul smirked, like my pain pleased him. That smirk might have saved my life. With a furious roar, Griffin totally wrestled away from Sam in his anger and shoved Paul away from me. He ripped the ropes from me and we were running. All thoughts of Christian totally flew from my mind with the wind of our flight. He held me in his arms as we ran, deep into the forest and then it was over.

He set me carefully down by a tree and watched me with concern.

"Are you okay?" he whispered, his voice rough with pain.

I nodded, avoiding the pain on my cheek where Paul had hit me. He looked at me with increasing panic and I finally found the courage to speak.

"You don't have to stay here and pretend that you like me. You can leave right now and pretend that I don't exist," I said, wincing as the pain of that outcome hit me. His face creased in confusion.

"Kristin," he said carefully, "I'm not pretending. You know what I am, you know that the legends are true. All of them," he tacked on as an after thought.

"Kristin, there's something I have to tell you. That day when I first saw you... from that very day...

"Kristin, I imprinted on you."


	4. Chapter 4

I stared into his blue eyes, wide with worry and anxiety, and something inside of me shifted while his words ran through my head.

_Kristin... I imprinted on you._

I didn't know what to think. I had known him for only a few days, the first time I had heard his voice was only a few moments ago, with Paul...

There was no way someone like him could possibly be meant to be with someone like me. He was beautiful, strong, supernatural, and absolutely amazing. I was average, a huge book nerd, not much to look at, and human. We were like fire and ice. We didn't work together. I tried to sort this out while escaping the burning gaze of his eyes, looking into my heart, my soul. My body ached, and I drew my knees up and wrapped my arms around me. The movement hurt my stomach.

His eyes twisted with fear for me, but he made no move to comfort me. I lowered my head between my knees and tried to escape the pain, and tried to fight in impulse to crawl into his arms. He waited, a foot of tension between us, as strong as a brick wall.

He waited, but what was I supposed to say?

I looked into his eyes, filled with nothing but fear that I was in pain and then again, the total adoration and commitment that I had seen the first time. Like he would be willing to give everything up for me. It was a look that was so different than the look Jared gave Kim or the look Sam gave Emily. It was the look that Edward gave Bella.

I inhaled in shock and lowered my head. It was true.

I raised my head again, looking back into his eyes, and I felt again what had shifted inside of me.

The feeling that ached when I read books or saw movies, that felt empty and loveless, had changed. I no longer ached when I looked at him, instead I felt the same adoration and commitment that I saw in his eyes inside of me. I knew what it was, and I made my decision.

I looked at him and I saw something other than the teenage boy that sat there. I saw someone who would follow me anywhere, who would encourage me to follow my heart and who would love me in the way I needed most. I saw someone supportive and caring. I saw someone who would be with me for the rest of my life.

I didn't say anything in response to his statement, I just slid next to him, into the safety of his arms. He stiffened with surprise, then slid his arms around me and was careful of where I was hurting. I felt something brush through my hair and I leaned back into him, trying to figure out if this was a dream.

"Is this a dream?" I whispered to him, trying to memorize the feeling of his warm arms around me. I looked up into the perfection of his face and mentally congratulated my imagination for coming up with that level of beauty.

His arms tightened. "If it is... then I never want to wake up." he murmured, his voice low against my ear. I shivered with the sound of his voice, and he impulsively tightened his arms, ready to protect me from any danger.

I tried to find the words to say how I felt, but I didn't get that chance. Suddenly, his body changed, rising in front of me, becoming protective, but I saw nothing to be afraid of. I tugged on the bottom of his shirt, trying to pull him back down, but he pulled me up instead. He backed into a tree, holding me behind him and growled toward the trees.

My pulse quickened as I saw what he had sensed. We gasped.

Sixteen lumbering wolf silhouettes in the trees, circling us. They were on all sides, each wolf almost striking. I shrank against the tree, afraid not for me, but for him, afraid knowing that he could fight off sixteen wolves who wanted to hurt me. He kept snarling, circling, but it was a lost cause. Suddenly, one of my attackers phased. I watched with wide eyes as the giant, vibrating wolf shimmered down into a boy, a boy I knew all too well.

"Guy..." Jared said, "I don't know about this. This is Skylaar's best friend."

Despite these encouraging words of advice, Griffin did not relax his position and I tried very hard to focus on Jared's face. So far it was working. Griffin seemed to notice that Jared was now standing in front of his imprint naked and he shifted his position to do - what? Shield the innocence of my eyes? Whatever.

Jared continued talking. "I mean, she's only like thirteen-"

"Fourteen and a _half_-"

He rolled his eyes. "You know I don't really care. My point is, she young and she's his imrint. I thought that the most sacred law of the pack was never to kill the object of another wolves imprinting." Griffin growled at the word kill and I shrank away from the wolves. "Besides, I don't care if she's ripping us apart. She's just a girl."

I wrapped my arms around Griffin's waist to hold him back at that. Since he didn't want to hurt me by lunging, he settled on yelling.

"She's not just a girl, okay? I've seen, I've _heard_ what you think of Kim - would you like it if I said Kim was just a girl? No. So just - can you leave her alone?"

The words didn't match the volume, to say the least. He was yelling, and let me tell you - that boy has a set of lungs. Suddenly, Griffin stiffened at some thought running through Jared's head. He ripped my arms off of him, pushed me into the tree and ran toward Jared. In a few seconds, he phased into a huge, dark brown wolf and was lunging at Jared's throat. Jared phased in defense, and suddenly they were fighting. Two other wolves followed him into the woods and suddenly I was left facing fourteen angry werewolves.


	5. Chapter 5

Alone. No one to protect me. The boy that had imprinted on me had run off into the woods, leaving me with fourteen angry wolves. My chances of survival slim, I just shrank further into the tree when suddenly, I heard shouting. It sounded like Skylaar, but why would she be here?

Skylaar came running through the trees holding an aluminum baseball bat and screaming at the top of her lungs.

"WHERE IS HE????" she screamed, looking around wildly for someone. "WHERE'S JARED, I'M GOING TO HIT HIM SO HARD HE AND KIM WILL NEVER HAVE CHILDREN!!!!"

I flinched. She suddenly caught sight of how many wolves there were facing me.

"Oh, CRAP." She said, dropping her bat in surprise. "There are fourteen? I'm going to need more bats." She quickly ran into the trees, forgetting about me.

I stood, braced against the tree and the wolves circled in closer. I closed my eyes and it seemed like a few seconds, but it must have been longer. I closed my eyes tighter and heard Skylaar come running in, followed by more people. I opened my eyes. Who were they?

I opened my eyes and saw Skylaar running in with little chubby Hispanic kids following behind her - all armed with bats. And they were blindfolded. She jogged over to me and whispered in my ear: "Got them from some snooty rich girls Quincenera. Don't think she cared. Told them we were going to play piñata."

I groaned. She turned to the kids.

"Okay, here's the deal. I point you in a certain direction, and you run and start hitting whatever you reach. Got it?" she said, rolling her eyes. She positioned them to where they were facing a werewolf and set them off. Then she turned to me and opened her mouth to say something. I saw this chubby little boy walk up behind her and raise his bat blindfolded. She turned to see what was behind her and...

WHAM.

She got hit in the stomach with a metal bat and the air rushed out of her mouth. The little boy lifted his blindfold hopefully and asked her, "Did I get it?" he said, like he was asking for a cookie.

Skylaar gasped for air. "Yup, you got it." she said, and then punched him in the face. He doubled backward gasping for air, and Skylaar pointing him toward Paul, hit him on the butt, and off he went, swinging his bat wildly.

She turned to the rest of the frightened Hispanic kids. "Who else wants to try," she said, with a vicious look on her face.

Skylaar was immediately jumped by six little girls, all between the ages of eight and twelve. I could hear several of her favorite expletives coming from the group, but I didn't see what was happening anymore because the werewolves had apparently decided that now was a good time to circle in. I was truly afraid again, what with Skylaar's attention somewhat... preoccupied, and I slunk back against my tree. The wolves circled closer and I could feel Paul's hot breath against my cheek. I remembered when he hit me and I felt fear, when suddenly he yelped like he was on fire and streaked into the woods. Eventually I heard the howls change to human cuss words and I turned to see Skylaar. She was standing innocently, holding one of her baseball bats and grinning like crazy. When she walked toward me with total confidence, the surrounding wolves slunk back, taking a position where they protected their... um... you know. Skylaar swung her bat menacingly at a few of them and they backed away in real fear. I was burning with curiosity at what exactly she had done.

"Skylaar? What did you do?" I said, almost smiling.

She grinned. "I hit him where the sun don't shine."

She moved and I could see all of the little girls tied to a tree and Skylaar was holding their bats. The wolves winced, they had all experienced that hit firsthand in Paul's head, and Skylaar had turned to them.

"Now. You idiots want more?" she said, and every wolf took off frantically into the woods.

I laughed when she followed them in, screaming like a maniac and throwing out some new insults - in between insulting someone's mother and taking the lords name in vain, she yelled out "I'M GOING TO BEAT THE F#%^ING CRAP OUT OF YOU WEREWOLVES!!!!!"

Still laughing, I untied the little girls and told them and their friends to go back to the party. I watched them run off, terrified at my crazy friend and me. I wish I knew what they were saying, but it was in Spanish. Ah, one of the great mysteries of life.

I made myself useful, picking up the bats and what not, putting them into neat rows on the dirt floor, while I waited for Skylaar to come back. I wasn't disappointed. She showed up within a few minutes, her hands and feet covered with blood. I knew she had indeed beaten the crap out of the wolves, but I preferred to be clueless. I was about to ask her when Griffin returned.

I'll say it. He wasn't wearing anything but what looked like cutoff sweatpants and I did a great job of not staring. Skylaar was so crazed with her werewolf/Jared rage that it could've been anyone and she would've thought it was Jared. She turned to him, vengeance in her eyes.

"You want more Jared, huh? YOU WANT MORE?" she screamed, beyond reason. I suddenly felt fear for him. "NO SKYLAAR, HE DOESN'T WANT MORE!" I yelled, trying hard to hold her back. That had little success. She leapt out of my arms and straight at him, screaming and chasing him into the woods.

She came back a few seconds later, looking no more bloody than before. This time, I asked her.

"So what's with all the blood? Is macabre like the new preppy or something?" I said, a hint of a smile playing around my lips. She rolled her eyes, then got into character.

"No," she whispered, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. "The werewolves killed a baby bunny rabbit."

Even though I knew she was lying, I was appalled. "That's horrible," I said, trying to see around her.

She nodded mournfully. "I know. It was so bloody..."

"Let me go see it."

She looked shocked.

"NO! Nononononononnononono..."

"Why not?"

This threw her for a minute. "Um.... because I don't know where it is. We could ask the werewolves... but they're out celebrating the death. Werewolf party only."

"That's horrible! I bet Griffin will let me. I need to get him out of there."

"NO... I figured that maybe we could have a sleepover."

I grinned. She totally set me up for that one. I knew full well where Jared would go to nurse his wounds... her house.

"Okay, I haven't seen Kim in so long."

She nodded, excited I wasn't trying to hit a werewolf party, before realizing something. Jared.

"You know what? Not a good idea."

"Why?"

"Uh... Jared will be there. She'll be comforting him after what happened, then they'll start kissing, that will lead to... other things, and eventually you can't even go downstairs anymore. Not kidding. I have to take a guide."

"I'll be your guide."

Skylaar was clearly struggling at this point and I took pity on her. "Okay... how about we sleep over at my house tonight?" I said pointedly, and she admitted defeat.

"Okay."


End file.
